Comminutor

ABSTRACT

A comminutor for coarse materials and to be installed in sewage channels has a rotatably mounted sieve drum having a plurality of sieve rings arranged in spaced relationship thereon. A comminutor element is mounted on a respective one of each of the sieve rings. At least one support column is provided and has a comb unit thereon arranged to cooperate with the comminutor element on the sieve drum. A ring member is fastened to the lower end of the sieve drum for rotation therewith and has a blade carrier member to which is attached a blade member. A fixedly mounted counterring having a blade member is arranged so that its blade member cooperates with the blade member of the ring member to provide a scissor-like comminuting action.

United States Patent Wittke Oct. 24, 1972 [54] COMMINUTOR [72] Inventor:Paul Wittke, Niederrodenbach, Germany [22] Filed: Nov. 6, 1970 [21]Appl. No.: 87,455

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 11, 1969 Germany ..P 19 56607.5

[52] US. Cl ..210/174, 210/357 [51] Int. Cl. ..B01d 35/28 [58] Field ofSearch ....210/173, 174, 357; 241/4606 [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 1,948,125 2/1934 Nordell ..210/174 X 2,761,627 9/1956Reed ..24l/46.06

2,336,06912/1943 Chase ...2 1 /1 7 4 Primary Examiner-Samih N. ZaharnaAssistant Examin erF. F. Calvetti Attorney-Spencer & Kaye [57] ABSTRACTA comminutor for coarse materials and to be installed in sewage channelshas a rotatably mounted sieve drum having a plurality of sieve ringsarranged in spaced relationship thereon. A comminutor element is mountedon a respective one of each of the sieve rings. At least one supportcolumn is provided and has a comb unit thereon arranged to cooperatewith the comminutor element on the sieve drum. A ring member is fastenedto the lower end of the sieve drum for rotation therewith and has ablade carrier member to which is attached a blade member. A fixedlymounted counterring having a blade member is arranged so that its blademember cooperates with the blade member of the ring member to provide ascissor-like comminuting action.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEunm 24 I972 3.700.106

SHEET 1 or 2 I Fig. I

Inventor:

Poul Wifike ATTORNEYS.

PATENTED UBT 24 I972 SHEET 2 [1F 2 In vemor: Poul Wifike ATTORNEYS.

COMMINUTOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates toa comminutor for coarse materials to be installed in sewage channels. Itincludes a rotating sieve drum with horizontally extending sieve ringswhich are disposed in a spaced relation with one another, and havingcomminutor elements connected thereto, as well as at least onestationary comb fastened to a respective support column.

Several embodiments of comminutors for coarse materials of theabove-mentioned type are known. They all have in common that teethconnected to sieve rings pass through gaps between individual combteeth, whereby floating materials carried along by the sewage arecomminuted. To accomplish this, floating materials are first washed bythe sewage waters onto a jacket surface of a sieve drum and, while thewater flows away through the slits disposed between the individual sieverings, the coarse materials are carried along by the sieve drum to thecomb unit where they are comminuted in the described manner. When thefloating materials, which are conventionally called coarse materials,have been sufficiently comminuted, they are washed away by the sewagewater-and no longer may impede the flow in the canal system.

Lately, these coarse materials have come to contain substantialquantities of thermoplastic synthetics in the form of, for example,foils and woven materials.

Whereas it used to be relatively simple to comminute these coarsematerials, the presently relatively high proportions of syntheticcomponents in the coarse materials place increased requirements on theknown comminutors. These increased requirements cannot be met by all thecomminutors of the above-mentioned type and older models especially mayhave to be replaced; all of which would be rather expensive.

A particular disadvantage of these older machines, which were designedfor coarse materials containing substantially lower quantities ofsynthetic materials than are now encountered, is that threads fromtextile shreds or strips from packing material remnants are notsufficiently torn apart by the comminutor elements. Such uncomminutedmaterials cause the known, and very annoying, strand formation to occur.The strand formation, in turn, leads to substantial malfunctions in asewage system or in a purification plant, as the case may be.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toimprove the known comminutors of the above-mentioned type in such amanner that their comminution output, i.e., cutting efficiency, isadequate for the present-day coarse material substances referred toabove.

This is accomplished according to the present invention by providing acomminutor for coarse materials of the above mentioned type which has areleasably fastened ring designed to be mounted on the underside of thesieve drum. A blade carrier passes through this ring and mounts at leastone blade which cooperates with the blades of a stationary counterring.

With a comminutor constructed in the manner described above, the coarsematerial components which formerly were insufficiently comminuted in thearea of the comb section and which penetrated into the interior of thesieve drum to be carried away with the sewage stream are subjected to afurther scissor-like comminution before they leave the sieve drum. Thisscissor-type comminution reduces the coarse components to dimensionswhich will not longer cause malfunctions in the process equipment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERREDEMBODIMENT FIG. 1 shows a plurality of sieve rings 1 arranged in aspacedrelationship on the periphery and along the axis of a rotatablymounted sieve drum 2. The arrows in FIGS. 1 and 4 show a possibledirection of rotation. A comminutor element 18 is-mounted on arespective one of the sieve rings 1. A support column 13 is provided formounting a comb unit 12. Comb unit 12 is arranged to cooperate with thecomminutor elements 18. An arrangement similar to that described thusfar is shown in more detail in Application Ser. No. 877,631, filed Nov.18, 1969, now US. Pat. No. 3,584,743, in the name of Herbert Dinges andcommonly owned with this application.

It is to be understood that more than one column 13 and correspondingcomb unit 12 may be used if desired, although only one set is shown inthe drawings. Any number of additional sets of columns 13 andcorresponding comb units 12 will be spaced around the periphery of thedrum 2.

A ring 3 is fastened to the lower rim of the bottommost of the rings 1(FIGS. 1 and 3) of the sieve drum 2 in a known manner, such as by screwfasteners. Ring 3 has a blade carrier member 4 arranged diametricallythrough it, as can best be seen in FIG. 1. Carrier 4 and ring 3 arepreferably made in one piece in a known manner, such as by casting. Ablade member 5, which preferably is dimensioned to extend over theentire length of the blade carrier 4, is fastened to the carrier 4 in aknown manner, such as by screw fasteners.

A counterring 6 is shown in FIG. 2 and is also provided with a bladecarrier 7. The carrier 7 is preferably constructed as a unitary portionof counterring 6 and is provided with a blade member 8. Counterring 6 isprovided in its upper region with an abutment surface 9 (FIG. 2) whichis fitted into a base ring 10 (FIG. 3) formed in the bottom of thecomminutor housing 17 (FIG. 3). A base ring such as ring 10 is alwayspresent in a comminutor of the type referred to herein. A column orcolumns are fastened to the base ring 10 to provide increased stabilityto the lower region of the machine where the cutting forces aregreatest.

The abutment surface 9 is equipped with at least one claw 11 three beingshown in FIG. 2. Claw 11 is designed to be supported on a respective oneof the columns 13 there being a column 13 for each claw l1 so thatcounterring 6 is fixedly mounted against rotation.

As can be clearly seen from FIG. 3, claw 11 is advantageously providedwith a screw jack having a bolt 14 and a nut 15. Nut 15 is supported byan abutment surface 16 provided on the upper surface of the base ring10, so that it is possible to adjust the height of the counterring 6 byturning the bolt 14 and the nut 15 relative to one another. It should beunderstood that such a height adjustment normally requires at least twosuch setting devices (only one of which is shown); that is, two screws14 and nuts 15 in respective claws 11, or the like.

This adjustment of the counterring 6 permits the stationary blade 8 tobe set for the desired scissors-like cutting, or comminuting, actionobtained by its cooperation with the rotating blade (FIG. 4). It hasbeen found advisable to set the two blades 5 and 8 close enough togetherthat their cutting surfaces come in light contact with one another, inthe manner of a pair of scissors. This has the advantage that the bladeswill tend to automatically sharpen one another, and makes it onlynecessary during operation to'adjust the setting of the blade from timeto time. This arrangement has the further advantage that the blades 5and 8 need be only removed from the device when they have worn downsufficiently that they must be replaced.

All of the elements referred to above are constructed from suitable,known materials.

Thus, the arrangement of the present invention provides a solution tothe problem of synthetic materials in sewage which permits knowncomminutors to be easily modified to include the ring 3 and thecounterring 6 and to permit present machines to be continued in use.

It will be understood that the above description of the presentinvention is susceptible to various modifications changes andadaptations, and the same are intended to be comprehended within themeaning and range of equivalents of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A comminutor for coarse materials and to be installed in sewagechannels, comprising, in combination:

a. a rotatably mounted sieve drum defining an axis and formed by aplurality of sieve rings arranged in spaced relationship along the drumaxis, said drum defining a flow area normal to said axis; comminutorelements mounted on said sieve rings;

. at least one support column;

. a comb unit mounted on said support column and arranged to cooperatewith said comminutor elements;

e. a ring member fastened to the lower end of said drum for rotationtherewith and having a blade carrier member to which is attached a blademember having a linear cutting edge extending along the entire diameterwithin said ring. member with its cutting edge disposed transversely tosaid drum axis; and

f. a counterring fixedly mounted against rotation and having a bladecarrier member to which is attached a blade member having a linearcutting edge extending along the entire diameter within said counterringwith its cutting edge disposed transversely to said drum axis, saidblade members being arranged in order to engage their cutting edges in ascissors-like manner to provide a comminuting action, said blade carriermembers and their respective blades constituting the only structuralelements in said flow area, whereby the channel flow is notsubstantially affected.

2. A comminutor as defined in claim 1, wherein said counterring isprovided with at least one claw which is rigidly attached to said atleast one column so as to fixedly mount said counterring.

3. A comminutor as defined in claim 2, further including adjustmentmeans associated with said at least one claw for axially displacing saidcounterring.

4. A comminutor as defined in claim 3, wherein said adjustment meansincludes a screw jack having a bolt and nut.

1. A comminutor for coarse materials and to be installed in sewagechannels, comprising, in combination: a. a rotatably mounted sieve drumdefining an axis and formed by a plurality of sieve rings arranged inspaced relationship along the drum axis, said drum defining a flow areanormal to said axis; b. comminutor elements mounted on said sieve rings;c. at least one support column; d. a comb unit mounted on said supportcolumn and arranged to cooperate with said comminutor elements; e. aring member fastened to the lower end of said drum for rotationtherewith and having a blade carrier member to which is attached a blademember having a linear cutting edge extending along the entire diameterwithin said ring member with its cutting edge disposed transversely tosaid drum axis; and f. a counterring fixedly mounted against rotationand having a blade carrier member to which is attached a blade memberhaving a linear cutting edge extending along the entire diameter withinsaid counterring with its cutting edge disposed transversely to saiddrum axis, said blade members being arranged in order to engage theircutting edges in a scissorslike manner to provide a comminuting action,said blade carrier members and their respective blades constituting theonly structural elements in said flow area, whereby the channel flow isnot substantially affected.
 2. A comminutor as defined in claim 1,wherein said counterring is provided with at least one claw which isrigidly attached to said at least one column so as to fixedly mount saidcounterring.
 3. A comminutor as defined in claim 2, further includingadjustment means associated with said at least one claw for axiallydisplacing said counterring.
 4. A comminutor as defined in claim 3,wherein said adjustment means includes a screw jack having a bolt andnut.